For the first time since we went on honeymoon Mr B has had 4 days off work. It was a national holiday here to celebrate the 1st of May, so we had Saturday, Sunday, Monday AND Tuesday free.
On the 1st of May we got up early and the B family all drove to Mostar via Podhum, to pick up the most senior B. (Dedo - Grandpa) The intention was to have a rostilj on the mountain near Mostar, but as the heavens opened the location was moved to an outhouse in Mostar instead.The tradition is to buy a whole lamb and cook it on a spit, this generally is the way people celebrate coming together. I thought I would be put off by the image of a whole lamb, including head, eyes, teeth, everything, on the spit, but in fact I took over the cooking. My sole duty was to keep the spit turning..... but cooking a whole lamb over hot coals takes a considerable amount of time, so I was there for nearly 3 hours!!
It was a lively gathering with most of that side of the family there. The 3 brothers of Babo (means Dad, but my Dad-in-law), a couple of their wives and a few of their kids. There were also some other guests, people just turned up, ate, chatted and left.
I have been having a few medical problems and so our host took me out in her garden and picked some leaves for me. She seems to know a lot about herbal remedies and has given me a plant for general health and one for my specific issue. I have been making a kind of tea out of it for the last 2 days and I have to say, it appears to be helping. She is a woman after your own hearts Bevells. You would adore her. There is a lot of nonsense here (old wive's tales) about what you should and should not do when you are ill, how to prevent illness etc, but she seems to actually be clued up about herbal remedies as opposed to just hearing that a through draft can cause anything from an upset stomach to a life threatening illness, or that if you do your washing on a Tuesday you will.... get the plague, for example (ok, these may be slight exaggerations, but I am not far off what people say here).
The Yank is in Spain at the minute, so I have noone to drink excessive amounts of coffee before school with. Hope you and your Mr B are having a whale of a time!
I may be popping back to the U.K in the next few weeks for an audition. It will only be a very fleeting, London-based, visit though, as don't have the money to do the visiting thing this time, but have to speculate to attempt to accumulate eh?!
A final farewell to Colin McIntyre who died yesterday. We thought you never would... that you would go on forever. You were the most impersonated man I have ever had the pleasure to meet sir. Sleep well.
On Saturday me and Mr B went birthday shopping, he needs a new pair of trainers desperately and as I had just earned a few KMs I could actually buy it with my money as opposed to him having to pay for his own gift, or taking it out of our very limited joint savings. It is so surprising how expensive it is here for things such as clothes or shoes. The average cost for trainers that we saw was around 110KM, now that works out at about £50, but take into consideration that around 46% of the population are unemployed, and the lucky, employed ones are averaging around 800KM per month (400 Euros) and you have a VERY expensive pair of trainers. I really don't know how people manage. We did find some lovely trainers in the end, from Office of all places!! Miss Marron, you would love the shoes in there! Better to stick with the office outlet though.
Right, that is all for now.... oh, just in case I don't update before, Happy Birthday to my lovely little sister. Sorry I can't be with you this time, love you!
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| Look away veggies! Lamb cooked over coals. |
It was a lively gathering with most of that side of the family there. The 3 brothers of Babo (means Dad, but my Dad-in-law), a couple of their wives and a few of their kids. There were also some other guests, people just turned up, ate, chatted and left.
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| The family rostilj (BBQ) in the rain. |
The Yank is in Spain at the minute, so I have noone to drink excessive amounts of coffee before school with. Hope you and your Mr B are having a whale of a time!
I may be popping back to the U.K in the next few weeks for an audition. It will only be a very fleeting, London-based, visit though, as don't have the money to do the visiting thing this time, but have to speculate to attempt to accumulate eh?!
A final farewell to Colin McIntyre who died yesterday. We thought you never would... that you would go on forever. You were the most impersonated man I have ever had the pleasure to meet sir. Sleep well.
On Saturday me and Mr B went birthday shopping, he needs a new pair of trainers desperately and as I had just earned a few KMs I could actually buy it with my money as opposed to him having to pay for his own gift, or taking it out of our very limited joint savings. It is so surprising how expensive it is here for things such as clothes or shoes. The average cost for trainers that we saw was around 110KM, now that works out at about £50, but take into consideration that around 46% of the population are unemployed, and the lucky, employed ones are averaging around 800KM per month (400 Euros) and you have a VERY expensive pair of trainers. I really don't know how people manage. We did find some lovely trainers in the end, from Office of all places!! Miss Marron, you would love the shoes in there! Better to stick with the office outlet though.
Right, that is all for now.... oh, just in case I don't update before, Happy Birthday to my lovely little sister. Sorry I can't be with you this time, love you!
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